Water system
East Liverpool City
EPA ID OH1500811 · Columbiana County · 12,586 people served · owned by a local government
East Liverpool City treats its own water from Ohio River.
The system's record
- Water bodies
- Ohio River
- Raw intakes
- Liverpool Ohio River I
- Serves
- 12,586 people · Columbiana County
- EPA ID
- OH1500811
Single named intake confirms the Ohio River as sole raw water source.
About this area's water
Did you know
- The intake is a street address as much as a river mile: East Liverpool draws the Ohio River at mile marker 40.2, at 2220 Michigan Avenue, through a plant that has been running since 1916.
- In 2025 the plant treated an average of 2.8 million gallons a day for roughly 12,600 people - and its source water protection plan rates the system's susceptibility to contamination as 'high.'
- East Liverpool once held about 85 pottery firms producing on the order of two-thirds of the nation's pottery, an industry that sat along the same Ohio River stretch the city still drinks from. (Reported by Wikipedia and…
History6
- 1916East Liverpool's surface water treatment plant was constructed to draw from the Ohio River at river mile 40.2; the plant is at 2220 Michigan Avenue and remains the city's sole source.
- 2022Ohio EPA identified plant deficiencies - deteriorating concrete in settling basins, leaks in filter pools, and filter media needing replacement - that went unresolved.
- 2025-01City received a formal Ohio EPA notification letter and a 'Tier 2 offender' designation for the unaddressed 2022 deficiencies; a notice describing the repair plan went to residents on Feb. 12, 2025.
- 2025-09System failed to continuously record individual filter effluent turbidity every 15 minutes as required by OAC 3745-81-74(B)(1) - operators had been logging manually every 4 hours. Equipment was…
- 2025The system operated in 2025 under a conditioned license to operate, with conditions requiring it to address ongoing violations.
- 2026-06Ohio Water Development Authority approved two Fresh Water Loan Fund loans to the city - $772,695 for a preliminary engineering report on aging water system infrastructure and $1,467,117 for a PER on…
Treatment & pressure
How it is treated
Conventional surface water treatment of Ohio River water at the 1916 plant at 2220 Michigan Avenue, drawing at river mile 40.2. The CCR documents filtration (individual filter effluent turbidimeters, turbidity treatment technique), TOC removal (2025 removal ratio 1.10), chlorine disinfection (1.34…
Source: eastliverpool.com
Water pressure
Not published. The city does not publish distribution pressure, storage volumes or tank inventory.
What it costs
No current rate schedule is published on the city website or in the online code. Ohio EPA's 2022 Sewer and Water Rate Survey is the last unambiguous figure: an annual residential…
Source: dam.assets.ohio.govmorningjournalnews.comreviewonline.com
Water quality & impurities10
| Contaminant | Level | Limit | Year |
|---|---|---|---|
| Total Trihalomethanes (TTHM) Range 28-104.2 ppb; no violation (compliance is on a locational running annual average), but the highest single result… | 76.3 ppb | 80 | 2025 |
| Haloacetic Acids (HAA5) Range 12.8-24.7 ppb; chlorination by-product. | 23.9 ppb | 60 | 2025 |
| Nitrate Range 0.64-1.72 ppm; fertilizer runoff and septic leaching. | 1.72 ppm | 10 | 2025 |
| Fluoride Range 0.81-1.29 ppm; natural plus additive. | 1.01 ppm | 4 | 2025 |
| Chlorine Range 1.05-1.60 ppm; disinfectant residual. | 1.34 ppm | MRDL 4 | 2025 |
| Barium Erosion of natural deposits; discharge of drilling wastes and from metal refineries. | 0.0329 ppm | 2 | 2025 |
| Combined Radium Monitored less than annually; erosion of natural deposits. | 1.07 pCi/L | 5 | 2023 |
| Turbidity Highest single result; 100% of monthly samples met the limit. | 0.26 NTU | TT (treatment… | 2025 |
| Total Organic Carbon (removal ratio) Range 1.02-1.31; in compliance with TOC removal requirements. | 1.10 ratio | TT (must exceed… | 2025 |
| Lead (90th percentile) Second monitoring period; range ND-6.90 ppb; 0 of 30 sites above the action level. | 1.84 ppb | 15 (action… | 2025 |
Source: eastliverpool.com
EPA compliance record
Lead at the tap: 90th-percentile result 1.8 ppb in 2025 (action level 15 ppb).
EPA record: no health-based violations since 2015.
7 violations of any kind logged since 2020, 7 of them paperwork (monitoring, reporting, public notice or consumer report).
Projects & plans4
Recent and current work
- Water treatment plant deficiency repairs (settling basins, filter pools, filter media) · $1.7 million · 2025-2027 · under construction
Ordered after Ohio EPA cited unresolved 2022 deficiencies and gave the plant a Tier 2 designation; contractor started summer 2025. Board of Public Utilities… - Individual filter effluent turbidimeter recording upgrade · 2025 · completed
Equipment installed so IFE turbidity records every 15 minutes as of Oct. 3, 2025, resolving the 2025 monitoring violation. No cost published.
Source: yahoo.comeastliverpool.com
Planned or needed
- Preliminary engineering report - aging water system infrastructure · $772,695 · 2026 · planned
OWDA Fresh Water Loan Fund loan at 4.50% for five years, announced June 2026. Funds a study of alternatives, not construction; no construction project or cost… - Preliminary engineering report - wastewater treatment plant process improvements · $1.5 million · 2026 · planned
Second OWDA Fresh Water Loan Fund loan at 4.50% for five years, announced June 2026.
Supply stress
The 2025 CCR states the source water protection plan gives the system a HIGH susceptibility rating. The Ohio River at mile 40.2 is the sole source - the CCR names no wells, no interconnection and no backup supply - so the system depends entirely on a heavily industrialized navigable river shared with Pennsylvania and West Virginia.…
Source: eastliverpool.com
Sewers
Sanitary
City-run wastewater department (elwwtp@eastliverpool.com, 330-386-5525). Ohio EPA's 2022 rate survey lists an annual residential sewer bill of $300 at 4,000 gal/month (about $25/month), based on a reported average usage of 4,000 gal/month. In June 2026 the city took a $1,467,117 OWDA loan for a preliminary engineering report on WWTP…
Storm
The city operates a separate stormwater utility with an MS4 program. Ohio EPA's 2022 rate survey lists a residential stormwater charge of $84 per year. The prior draft's 'Ordinance No. 3 (2019)' citation could not be verified and has been dropped.…
Source: eastliverpool.comdam.assets.ohio.goveastliverpool.com
Sourcesverified
Compiled from the utility's own reports and public records, then independently re-checked against primary sources.
Main supplier in 1 ZIP code
Serves
Main water supplier in 1 ZIP code
- 43920 · East Liverpool69% of residents
Population-weighted resident shares; a ZIP code can have more than one system on record. Recomputed from each ZIP's own system list, not from the map's cached footprint.
Buys from · Sells to
East Liverpool City does not buy water from another system on record; it treats its own source water.
No other system is on record buying water from East Liverpool City.
Photograph
On the map
Show this system's territory on the map — 1 ZIP code in all.
Sources
U.S. EPA SDWIS and Community Water System Service Area Boundaries (v3, 2026), Ohio EPA primacy data, 2020 census blocks: the system serving most residents, traced through purchases to the treating utility; Ohio EPA 2023 Sewer and Water Rate Survey (Ohio State, May 2025) for household bills; Ohio EPA DEFA loan awards since 2016 for the loans paragraph · EPA SDWIS · EPA service area boundaries · Ohio EPA drinking water · Ohio EPA rate survey
Notable facts: eastliverpool.com, en.wikipedia.org
History: eastliverpool.com, yahoo.com, wfmj.com
Water quality: eastliverpool.com
Planned work: wfmj.com, wytv.com
Capital projects: yahoo.com, eastliverpool.com
Rates: dam.assets.ohio.gov, morningjournalnews.com, reviewonline.com, eastliverpool.com
Sewers: eastliverpool.com, dam.assets.ohio.gov, eastliverpool.com, wfmj.com
Treatment: eastliverpool.com
Supply stress: eastliverpool.com